It Will Be a Good Fight
by The Death of Heaven
Summary: Khan took Kirk as a hostage for more than one reason. Yes, he captured the captain to retrieve his crew. However, he also took Jim to satisfy his curiosity. And for…other reasons. SLASH KIRK/KHAN. NO UNDER 18'S, PLEASE. SEE FULL WARNINGS INSIDE.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, people! New story! New story! I hope you enjoy! Star Trek Into Darkness…. holy shit…. the Cumberbatchiness is just overwhelming :) And for whatever reason (probably cuz I'm a twisted bitch with nothing better to do) I began to imagine Kirk and Khan together. And thus, this beautiful AU was born!**

**Please, for the LOVE OF GOD, read the warnings. They are warnings for what might occur during the story. If you read the warnings and don't like what you see, I recommend that you leave now and never return. **

**If you must flame or complain or anything of that nature, I ask that you be gentle when doing so. Otherwise, I will take your comments graciously. **

**Summary: Khan took Kirk as a hostage for more than one reason. Yes, he captured the captain to retrieve his crew. However, he also took Jim to satisfy his curiosity. And for…other reasons. **

**Notes: PLEASE BARE IN MIND THAT THIS IS TAKING PLACE AT THE EDGE OF THE NEUTRAL ZONE. In this story, the Enterprise did **_**not**_** have the chance to warp to get away, and therefore did **_**not**_** get knocked out of warp [In other words, the Enterprise and the Vengeance are still both on the edge of the Neutral Zone]. Carol Marcus, Scotty, Jim, and Khan are ON the Vengeance – Admiral Marcus is already dead, and Scotty, Jim, and Carol are all unconscious (Jim, Scotty) or immobile (Carol)**

**IM NOT SURE HOW I FEEL PUTTING THIS STORY UP - I WROTE THIS SHORT THING A WHILE AGO AND JUST NOW GOT AROUND TO IT AGAIN. I DON'T KNOW IF I SHOULD EVEN HAVE THIS UP BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF I'LL BE CONTINUING IT - SORRY.**

**Warnings: KhanXKirk mentions of KirkXSpock EXTREME VIOLENCE, BLOOD, GORE, HOMOEROTIC RELATIONSHIPS, MIND-FUCKERY, BLOOD-FUCKERY, ALIEN LANGUAGES, OUT OF CHARACTER-NESS, ALLUSIONS TO VARIOUS MEDIA/WORKS OF LITERATURE/CINEMATOGROPHY.**

On the bridge of the _Vengeance_, Captain Kirk, Chief Engineer Scott, and weapons specialist Carol Marcus lay sprawled in various positions on the floor, broken or bleeding or unconscious. Khan sat in the center of the room, in the captain's chair, smugly smirking at the image of the _Enterprise_ bridge onscreen.

"I'll make this very simple for you. Your crew for my crew." Khan said casually, as if he were speaking about the weather.

"You betrayed us." Spock said in monotone. His logic was failing him.

"Oh, you are smart, Mr. Spock." Khan mocked the Vulcan. "Give me my crew."

Spock allowed a mask of false calm to settle over his features. "And what will you do when you get them?"

"Why should it matter to you? You're not in much of a position to be asking questions. I have your captain, after all." Khan picked up a phaser and gestured vaguely at Kirk with it, enjoying how Spock visibly tensed as the weapon was pointed at the blonde. "Shall I destroy him, Mr. Spock? Or will you give me what I want?"

"We have no transporter capabilities." Spock said, teeth clenched, obviously attempting to stall for time. The tension on the bridge of the _Enterprise_ couldn't have been cut with a photon torpedo.

"Fortunately mine are perfectly functional. Lower your shields," demanded Khan.

"If I do so, I have no guarantee that you will not destroy the _Enterprise_." The ever-logical Spock questioned, moving to sit in the captain's chair of the bridge. "Likewise, I have no guarantee that you will return the captain to us."

Spock stared at the image of Khan on the screen. His older self had warned him quite grievously about Khan Noonien Singh. Then, when Spock had asked him if he'd managed to defeat Khan in his timeline, the elder had told him that while he had defeated Khan, he had done so at great cost. Spock refused for that cost to be the life of his captain. He fought to keep his face straight when Khan gripped Jim's hair and yanked his bloodied face into Spock's view.

"You cannot be certain of either of those things. However, you should be certain of this – I will kill everyone on this bridge, beginning with the daughter of that filth Marcus, and ending with your precious Captain." Khan smiled maliciously and stroked a finger across the bleeding and unconscious Jim's face. He then turned his smile off immediately and unceremoniously dropped the blonde to the floor with a loud thud. He turned back to the silent image of the _Enterprise's_ bridge with a frown. "From your lack of response, I assume you do not believe me. Observe, as I demonstrate my resolve."

Khan stood abruptly from his chair and turned to his left.

"What are you doing?" Uhura called in alarm, standing from her seat as if trying to stop Khan.

The entire bridge, save for Spock, cried out in horror as Khan made his way over to Carol Marcus, who desperately tried to move away from him, sobbing in pain and fear as she did so. Khan caught her easily, clasped his hands around her skull, and twisted until a sickening snap echoed across the connection between the two ships.

The bridge of the _Enterprise_ fell silent.

Carol Marcus's head lolled to the side at an impossible angle, and Khan allowed her body to fall to the floor.

Crushing silence held until Khan sat back down in the captain's chair of the _Vengeance_. He raised an eyebrow at the image of the shocked crew, as if daring them to make him kill another.

Spock twitched slightly. "If we lower our shields, you will return our captain to us and allow us to safely travel back to Earth once you have your crew?" Carol Marcus's death hadn't affected Spock very much; he was still bitter over the fact that she'd come aboard the _Enterprise_ as an additional Science Officer and Kirk had welcomed her with arms that seemed a little bit too open….

"I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle. And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people." Khan said simply, leaning back, looking very much like the captain he claimed to be. "I do not need to make a deal with you, but I am…willing to spare you." Khan paused for a moment as he saw the hesitation of the acting captain. "How about this, then? You have five minutes to discuss your decision amongst yourselves, privately. I will make no moves during this time. If you attempt to run, I will catch you, and I will slaughter you all." Khan pressed a button on the armrest of his chair and the image onscreen dissipated.

Back on the _Enterprise_, Spock was being bombarded with questions.

"What do we do, Mr. Spock?"

"Acting Captain, what is our decision?"

"Spock, we can't lower our shields; he'll kill us without a second thought once he has his crew!"

"What do we do?"

"How do we save the Captain?"

"We can't let him kill the Captain!"

Spock held up a hand and the noise ceased. "Please, be silent. We will discuss this using logic and reason." But Spock didn't know if he could think logically; this ruthless Khan character had his captain, _his_ Jim, and there was no guarantee that he would get him back in one piece, if at all.

Uhura turned to Spock, eyes wet and tear tracks on her cheeks, "Spock," she said, almost whispering, "we _can't_ let him kill Kirk."

Spock's composure broke momentarily. "I know," he murmured, closing his eyes for a second. He opened them again and stared at the fearful and weary members of his crew. "We will retrieve Captain Kirk, and we will attempt to escape from this encounter with everyone aboard this ship alive." He tapped a button on the chair's armrest and opened the ship-wide comm. "This is Acting Captain Spock speaking. All decks, prepare for imminent attack." He switched over to a direct channel to the engineering department. "Mr. Chekov, what is the status of the warp core? Has it been fully repaired?" Spock demanded.

"Ze core is sewerely damaged, Keptain. Ze patch-up job on ze coolant leak is broken ewen though ve did not varp earlier. Ve could varp but I vould not recommend it." Pavel Chekov said.

"How long until we can safely warp, Mr. Chekov?" Spock ground out.

"I vould say at least ten minutes, Sir." Chekov squeaked when he heard the impatience in Spock's voice.

"Let me know when we are able to warp, Chekov." Spock said, and slapped the button to terminate the connection. He turned back to the anxious faces of the bridge crew. "We will lower our shields and allow him to reclaim his 'crew.' Dr. McCoy, I want you to gather every medical officer and every member of engineering not working on the warp core. Remove the cryo tubes from the missiles. When Khan reopens the connection, I will stall for as much time as I can. When all of the tubes are out, place the casings back-"

"Captain, we're nearing the end of the time allotted for discussion—"

Without missing a beat, Spock asked, "How much time to we have left?"

From somewhere on the bridge, Sulu replied, "Twenty seconds."

Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds until the channel was reopened. Twenty seconds until Spock's Captain would live or die because of a choice Spock was making-! Just twenty. "Change of plans. Everyone stay on the bridge. We will give him what he wants and…hope he returns Captain Kirk to us." Spock clenched his jaw. He didn't like relying on his gut feelings like the Captain often did. But if he did anything else, there was the danger of Jim being killed.

There was a soft ping from the view screen and Khan's face-

_-smirking, like the _insufferable bastard_ he was-_

-reappeared.

"Hello, again, Mr. Spock. Long time, no see." Khan drawled. "Now that I have that out of the way, shall we begin? Your decision, please."

Spock barely held in a sigh of defeat. He refused to directly answer Khan. "Sulu, lower shields."

Khan appeared as if he could barely contain his glee. "Thank you, Mr. Spock." He saw the torpedoes appear in the weapons bay of the _Vengeance_ on the security monitors and grinned widely. "Off you trot." He said when he turned back to the _Enterprise_.

Spock immediately perked up. "You have not returned the captain or Mr. Scott to us."

Khan glanced disdainfully at the Chief Engineer to his right. He tapped a few buttons and scoffed, "That one, you can have."

Scotty appeared in the brig, in need of medical attention and still unconscious.

"Now give us the Captain back." Uhura spoke out, frowning determinedly at the screen.

The corners of Khan's lips quirked up into an evil smile. He reached down and pulled Jim into view once more. The captain looked marginally better than he had before, but he was still limp and lifeless.

"I don't know if I should," Khan said, raising his phaser to Jim's face and stroking the barrel across his bruised cheek, "I think Mr. Kirk would make a wonderful pet."

"_Release the captain_." Spock openly growled, moving forward towards the view screen. The rest of the bridge looked at him in shock for a minute before recovering themselves. "We did what you demanded. Return Captain Kirk to us, _now_."

"No…no, I don't believe I shall." Khan smirked and pulled Jim backwards until the captain was sitting on his lap, head lolling on Khan's shoulder. Khan stroked the tan column of Jim's exposed throat with the tip of the phaser. "You should leave while you have the chance. If you stay here much longer, I will destroy the _Enterprise_ and all of her crew."

"If you do not release the captain right now, we will eject the warp core of our vessel and detonate it. The pressure wave of such an explosion has proven to be strong enough to match and counter the force of the gravity of a class six black hole. The _Vengeance_ will be destroyed, along with you and all of your still-slumbering crew." Spock spat viciously.

"I know very well the kind of power a detonated warp core releases, Mr. Spock. I have read the reports of the _Narada_ incident. I also know exactly how far the radius of such a blast will extend. Your ship will be caught in the explosion as well." Khan stated. "Not to mention the fact that you would be killing your precious Captain as well. Don't try to threaten me, Mr. Spock. You know who I am – it doesn't work." A groan came from the blonde Captain and Khan looked at him in amusement. "Ah, it appears he is finally waking up."

Jim opened bleary blue eyes groggily and managed to ignore the arm wrapped around his waist, holding him against someone's chest long enough to see the bridge of his ship on the view screen. His head pounded and ached. "Wha…whushhh g-going on?" He slurred.

"Your crew is going to _die_." Khan muttered smoothly in Jim's ear. "They refuse to leave you here to _save themselves_."

Going to die? His crew? No, no, no. That couldn't be allowed to happen.

"What?" Jim asked, suddenly alert and struggling against the steel band of an arm that was across his abdominal area. "Spock?!"

"Captain!" Spock said, relief evident in his voice. He locked his eyes on his Captain's broken and bruised form on the view screen. "Khan has his crew, and we retrieved Mr. Scott. Ms. Marcus, however…suffered the wrath of Khan."

Jim shook his head a bit to clear it. Carol was dead? How long had he been out? But Scotty was safe… "Spock, is everyone onboard except for me?"

"Yes, Captain. We've been trying to negotiate your release with Khan, but-"

"Spock, take off, now! He'll _end_ you if you don't leave!" Jim said. He looked around the bridge for a moment, wincing as his eyes found the body of Carol Marcus and the body of her father, and then turned back to the monitor. "I'll find some way out of this." He punctuated his sentence with a harsh jerk in an attempt to escape from Khan's grip.

Spock retorted with surprising anger and insubordination, "Captain, we cannot leave you here. Khan Noonien Singh is too dangerous - you will be killed, tortured, or worse!"

"Definitely worse," Khan purred lowly. His breath was hot in Kirk's ear.

"Spock," Jim said confidently, "get away from here as fast as you possibly can. Rendezvous with Starfleet. That's an order." He felt, rather than heard, Khan begin to chuckle. He also felt a hand sliding dangerously down to his waist.

Spock's lips twisted into a snarl. "I cannot leave you, Captain. It is against regulation-"

"And you know me well enough to understand that I don't give a _fuck_ about regulation! Return with reinforcements. I will be fine." Kirk commanded. "_Go_."

Khan cut the transmission with a tap of his finger. "If you believe I will allow them to reclaim you, you are _sorely mistaken_." He whispered calmly in Jim's ear.

Jim tensed. "If you believe I'll go down without a fight, you're sorely mistaken." He growled.

"I have no doubt about that, _Captain_," Khan breathed silkily. "And it will be a _good_ fight, I'm sure."

Jim wondered just what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

Tears ran freely down the faces of several members of the alpha shift. Their captain…their captain was as good as dead…

On the bridge of the _Enterprise_, Spock closed his eyes in resignation when Chekov comm'd him, "Sir, varp is awailable at your command." His normally bubbly voice was extremely sober.

"Sulu, set course for Earth."

Sulu's voice was heavy with remorse. "Course laid in."

"Maximum warp."

"Yes, Sir."

When the stars began to blur together, it was because of the warp. When the sharp angles and lines of the bride began to blur together, it was because of the tears in Spock's eyes.

! #$%^&*()*&^%$# !

By the time the _Enterprise_ had arrived back at the neutral zone with reinforcements, the _Vengeance_ was gone. Completely and utterly gone. There wasn't even a trace of warp radiation in the area.

It was just as Khan had planned. He'd stabbed a hypo with a heavy sedative that Kirk was not allergic to into his neck as soon as the Enterprise had warped away. The blonde had sagged against him weakly, mumbling things that didn't make any sense, and acting extremely…affectionate. Khan reluctantly avoided Kirk's advances and managed to get him to go to sleep in the First Officer's quarters.

Khan had then found a nice spot of open, neutral space, and navigated the _Vengeance_ to said spot at the break-neck speed of warp ten. The_ Vengeance_ idled there while Khan strode quickly and quietly through the hallways of the huge combat ship to the weapons bay to wake his sleeping crew.

After about twenty minutes, the first groans of his previously slumbering family reached his ears. He grinned so largely he thought his cheeks might split. Glee flooded through his veins and he found himself remembering the defeated, sorrowful looks of the bridge crew of the_ Enterprise_, especially that poor excuse for a First Officer. It was wonderful to force that kind of emotion out of a Vulcan.

Khan's grin morphed into something more sinister. Starfleet would be coming to find them soon, and Khan's crew would be ready for them. With his hands loosely clasped behind his back, he wandered around the cryo tubes as the occupants began the tiring process of waking up. This would be _fun_.

**A/N: So I'm cutting it here. What do you think? I thought it was okay considering some of the stories I've seen in the archive, but definitely not one of the best. Anyway! I hope you enjoyed it, and if the response is positive enough, I may continue this.**

**Have a fantastic day~!**

**~DH**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome to the next chapter of this little story! The response was pretty good and I really enjoyed writing the first part so I decided to give it a shot :) Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Jim stared groggily around a room that looked almost identical to the Captain's Quarters aboard the _Enterprise_. The color scheme was a bit darker and the furniture looked geared more towards being functional than being stylish, but Jim couldn't complain – at least he wasn't in a holding cell in the brig. He suffered a wave of intense dizziness when he tried to sit up, so he was definitely content to simply lie on the bed for a while.

He became alert when the door made a whoosh as it slid open, and in stepped Khan, wearing a Starfleet uniform meant for a captain, not a hair out of place. He was followed by a tall, blonde-haired man with bright green eyes who Kirk could only guess was Khan's first officer. He didn't bother to press the button to close the door behind him once he stepped fully into the room, and Kirk briefly had the notion of trying to escape.

Then he remembered the speed and strength that Khan, at least, had displayed when completely decimating the Klingon patrol – he remembered the pain exploding through his skull and ribs when he was violently assaulted back on the bridge of the _Vengeance_. Jim didn't feel like antagonizing the superhuman to drive him to do something like that again.

"You had a concussion, you know." Khan remarked lightly, stepping forward a few paces towards the bed that Jim occupied, and the blonde sat up and scooted as far away from the superhuman as possible. "You're lucky this ship has a med bay, or you'd be much worse off."

What was Khan going to try and do? Was he going to lord this debt over Jim's head?

Khan didn't speak for a few seconds, obviously waiting for some kind of response. Jim elected to remain silent.

"I know you have questions, Captain Kirk," Khan declared finally, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Are you saying you'd answer them?" Jim asked incredulously. "Honestly?"

"I'll answer some of them. I'll answer the ones that I believe you have the rights to know," Khan replied.

"Why would you tell me anything?" Jim wondered, raising an eyebrow. "I thought I was your captive. Why not keep me in a cell in the brig?"

"You're not a prisoner, Kirk. You're a _guest_," Khan smiled but to Jim it didn't look like a smile – it was sharp and cold, almost taunting, and full of empty assurance. _Oh no, don't worry, little pig – I'm a vegetarian. I have no desire to eat _you_._

Jim wondered just how hard he'd been hit in the head. Instead of doing anything to respond to Khan, he looked down at himself. Someone had changed Jim's gold shirt and black pants into the military-black-and-gray that all of the _Vengeance_ crew seemed to be wearing when they'd attacked him and Scotty and Khan earlier that day. Jim paused in his train of thought, and then glanced over at Khan.

"How long has it been since…" Jim didn't know what to call it. How long had it been since he'd been drugged? How long had it been since the _Vengeance_ attacked the _Enterprise_? How long had it been since Khan crushed Admiral Marcus's skull in between his steely, inhuman hands? "How long have I been out?" Jim asked instead.

"You've been unconscious for approximately twenty-five hours," Khan answered casually. A _day_. Jim had been unconscious for an entire _day_.

"Where are we?"

"I'm afraid I'm not going to tell you that, Kirk." A flicker of irritation jolted through Jim's veins.

"Why?"

"Oh, Kirk. I know that there's not _much_ you can do with that information, but I do have to keep you in the dark about some things, don't I?" Khan smirked. His deep timbre was mocking. There wasn't much that Jim could do? He could program an escape pod, fly a shuttle, sent a distress signal…

Or was Khan convinced that he could squash any escape attempt that Jim made?

Jim gritted his teeth, but tried not to let his indignity show. He decided to try a different tactic. "No, that's not what I was asking." He allowed himself a brief moment of happiness at the flash of confusion that showed on Khan's face. "I want to know why you kept me hostage. Revenge? Ransom?"

Khan's smirk widened into a grin. "I kept you hostage because I found you intriguing. I want to know what makes you _tick_, Mr. Kirk."

Jim sat and let that sink in for a moment. He was still alive only because of the intrigue of a merciless superhuman who would love nothing better than to take revenge on the entire world for the way he and his crew had been treated. He felt a dull horror seeping through his body.

"What's going to happen to me, now that I am your…guest?" Jim hesitantly asked. He later couldn't decide whether that was the best or worst thing he could have possibly asked in that moment.

Khan's smile faded and his mouth formed a serious line. He stalked closer to Jim, who scrambled to get away from him. Kirk clambered gracelessly off the bed and pressed himself against the metal wall. Khan effortlessly trapped the captain in place with his arms and leaned so close that Kirk could see the pupils in his impossibly light blue-green-gray eyes dilate and _holy shit he's just way too close_ -

"Don't you worry about that, Captain," Khan whispered, his warm, minty breath washing over Jim's face. "You'll find out eventually."

Jim blinked slowly, trying to concentrate more on what Khan was actually saying rather than the extremely full lips the words were spilling from. If Khan were any closer to Jim, their noses would collide. The captain didn't notice that he'd stopped breathing until the world began to swim right before his eyes and his face felt hot. He glimpsed a tiny smirk spread across Khan's lips before the superhuman was all the way across the room at the door again, next to his first officer.

"The final meal of the day will be served in the Mess Hall in approximately two hours, Kirk. Join us if you'd like. However, if you would rather dine alone, there is a replicator installed in the wall over there," said Khan with a broad gesture to the right of Jim. "I'll see you later," and with that, Khan and his first officer were gone, and the door slid shut once again.

Jim moved away from the wall on shaky legs and sat down on the bed. Idling there, Jim had the sudden wild thought of _maybe I shouldn't have told Spock to leave me here._ He shook his head back and forth the second the notion formed in his brain. _No, no, I did the right thing – everyone would have been killed, the Enterprise would've been destroyed. I made the right call._

He was confident about his decision until he looked around the cold, metal, unwelcoming interior of the Captain's Quarters. If this was the allotted space for a Captain – of such a huge and impressive ship, no less – he dreaded to see what the cells in the brig looked like. The entire room felt like a prison.

_I made the right call…didn't I?_

! #$%^&*()()*&^%$# !

Spock put his head in his hands, an entirely human gesture that he definitely was not happy about demonstrating in front of his girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend, that is. He and Uhura had come upon a few bumps in the road and, despite both of them being willing to flatten those bumps, they had mutually decided that separating was the best option.

Uhura laid her hand on his shoulder, careful not to touch his skin, as that would be improper, and said, "Don't worry, Spock. We'll find him."

"The statistical likelihood of Starfleet being able to successfully locate a ship which they didn't even know existed until a day ago and capturing said vessel without harming anyone onboard is less than two percent, Lieutenant. I am far beyond the point of worry." Spock replied coldly, shrugging off her hand and moving to the other side of the table to discuss tactics with a couple of captains who had also been called to the meeting. The entire council, which had been convened at very short notice, buzzed with conversation.

The deaths of Admiral Marcus and Admiral Pike, along with the attack on the _Enterprise_ and the kidnapping of its captain, and the attack made by the war criminal Khan Noonien Singh on the Klingon home planet of Qo'noS, had qualified as offenses against the entirety of Earth; therefore, a special meeting of all the Earth's leaders had been called.

"Excuse me! Please find your seats and your debriefing packets quickly, we have to get moving on this." Called Admiral Archer, the temporary head of Starfleet. "Now, if those of you not aware of the situation would take a moment to watch the following presentation, we can get this going."

The meeting lasted too long, in Spock's opinion. His first urge was to storm off and find and reclaim the captain by himself. Of course, the logic that he clung to when his human emotions overwhelmed him told him that that definitely was not a good idea, and eventually the captains and presidents and kings and queens who were present at the meeting came to a decision that they all agreed upon:

They would send three quarters of all the vessels with offensive capabilities docked in Earth's orbit to find and capture the _Vengeance, _with as little collateral damage as possible. Spock was pleased to discover that he was assigned to the Enterprise as its acting captain, and that the ship was one of the ones to be sent on the mission.

'As little collateral damage as possible.' Of course, Spock would do his best to follow this order, but…if a certain war criminal happened to get in his way, Spock couldn't guarantee anything.

"Let's go," Spock said to Uhura as the meeting came to an end and they were urged to prepare the ships for flight.

Uhura followed Spock without hesitation, and they made their ways to the transport pads in silence, for which Spock was grateful – he didn't know if he'd be able to participate in any sort of conversation.

"Acting Captain Spock to Enterprise. Two to beam up." Spock barked, and barely noticed Uhura's wince at his harshness.

The transporter room opened up before Spock's eyes, and he was off. In a few minutes, he'd made his way to the bridge and sat down in the captain's chair. He tapped the comm and spoke to the entirety of the ship.

"I'm sure that our situation needs no explaining to those of you who witnessed the calamity on the edge of the neutral zone yesterday, however, as some of you are here as replacements for the crew members who were lost in the attack, I will recount the events of that day," Spock took a deep breath, "At 100 hours yesterday morning, the _Enterprise_ was attacked on the edge of the neutral zone by Admiral Marcus, who was later killed by the war criminal Khan Noonien Singh. That same war criminal later killed Carol Marcus, Admiral Marcus's daughter, and kidnapped our captain, Jim Kirk.

Our mission is to locate the Vengeance, the ship that Khan has commandeered, and capture it with as little collateral damage as possible. Please be aware that Khan has a crew of seventy-two superhumans, who possess strength at least five times that of an average human male, and twice that of an average Vulcan male. Despite the orders of Admiral Archer, all weapons are to be locked to 'kill.' All decks prepare for immediate departure. To quote our captain, 'Let's go get this son of a bitch.' Spock out."

Everyone on the bridge was silent, having prepared his or her station and equipment as he was explaining. Spock glanced around at the sober faces and emotion began to seep through his carefully built walls.

"Please believe me, everyone. I can't guarantee that we'll find Captain Kirk, nor that we will bring Khan to justice, but I can guarantee that we will try our best. Mr. Sulu, please lay in a course for the neutral zone." Spock ordered.

"Course laid in, Captain."

"Thank you. Warp six, please."

"Engaging warp six, Captain."

Spock sat rigidly in his seat the entire way.

! #$%^&*()*&^%$# !

Jim didn't quite know what to do after he both made and ate his selection of pasta and garlic bread from the replicator. Khan hadn't forbidden him from using the ship's computers or even going outside of his room, so he decided to try. In fact, the superhuman hadn't even told him that he should stay inside of his room.

"_Join us if you'd like…I'll see you later…"_

Jim clenched his jaw and stood from his place on the bed. He walked over to the door and pressed the button and walked into the hallway.

"Oh, hello, there, Mr. Kirk! How are you this evening?" God, did all of the superhumans have attractive British accents?

Jim looked to his left in surprise. It was the blond, green-eyed first-officer who had come to visit him along with Khan earlier. The heavily-muscled man was smiling jovially and walking towards him with an easy stride.

The captain thought as fast as he could. "I'm doing well, thanks. And you, Mr…?"

"Daelman, Naldo Daelman. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kirk." Daelman held his hand out, still smiling broadly with bright white teeth.

"Ummm…yeah," Jim said, shaking the hand held out to him.

"Where were you heading off to?" Daelman asked.

Jim, as a captain, knew, more or less, how to read people. In fact, he was often praised for doing just that. It seemed to just come very easily to him. And as a person who could usually tell if someone was thinking less than nice thoughts, Jim would tell you, if you'd asked him, that Daelman's curiosity was genuine.

"Needed to stretch my legs," Jim replied, shifting from foot to foot for emphasis.

"Oh, sure, sure," Daelman nodded, still smiling, "You know what? I was just heading over to the recreational room to play a game of chess with the captain! Why don't you come join us?"

Anxiety was a tight knot in Jim's throat and he cleared it as quickly as he could before backtracking, "Oh, no, I really don't want to impose! In fact, I think that I've stretched enough for now."

"Nonsense! You just stepped out of your room! Come with me, please?" Daelman looked at Jim with huge blue eyes and suddenly the two of them were strolling down the corridor together, the superhuman grinning triumphantly.

With such extraordinary abilities of manipulation, Jim wondered why they needed enhanced strength at all.

Daelman glanced over at Jim while he led the blond down the twists and turns of the gray hallway and then turned his eyes back to where he was walking. "You know," he said, voice more sober than it had been before, "Captain Singh told us about what you did for us. How even though he killed someone very dear to you…when he told you about us, you showed compassion. You could have destroyed me and the rest of the crew so easily, but you didn't. And I'd…" Daelman trailed off for a minute, his eyes getting misty, "I'd just like to say thank you. On behalf of everyone."

Jim bit his tongue to keep from answering with something along the lines of "anybody would've done it, don't thank me for it." Instead, he nodded once at the man and willed himself to keep quiet.

"The captain is grateful to you, too. He'll never admit it, or ever really show it, but he is." Daelman declared, his smile returning. Then he turned left down a different branch of the corridor and came to a stop in front of a slightly less gray door, which swooshed open at the press of a button.

Jim was glad that once they stepped inside, the people didn't gawk at them; they merely glanced up or waved a hand in greeting, and then went back to what they were doing.

"Hello, Kirk," Khan sat at a tall white table upon which sat an obsidian and white marble chess set. The man's eyes looked especially light and his hair especially dark against the abyss gray walls of the rec room, Jim noticed. "Nice to see you up and around. I assume you'll be joining us for a while." It wasn't a question, but Jim replied anyway.

"Yeah. Your first officer insisted," Jim said with a strained smile that seemed to amuse the brunette captain.

"He does have a way with persuasion, does he not?" Khan mused, placing the chess pieces in their proper squares. "Have you played chess before, Kirk?"

"Yes, I have. I play with my first officer daily." Jim said, gaining more confidence in speaking as the conversation went on.

"Ahh, yes. The Vulcan. I can imagine how those games ended," Khan mocked, raising his eyes to meet Jim's, "Sit down. I'll have a short match with Naldo and then perhaps you'll test your chess skills against mine."

Jim kept his head high as he stalked around the table to the opposite side and sat down in a prime spot to watch the game.

The match between First Officer Daelman and Captain Singh was short-lived, but enjoyable. Jim could tell as he observed that both of them were trying to stay ten or twelve moves ahead of the other, but Khan seemed to be the only one succeeding. He'd declared 'check' within the first five moves, and 'checkmate' after another four.

Daelman had accepted his defeat gracefully and stood, claiming he had business elsewhere on the ship, but Jim glimpsed a wicked twinkle in his eye. Jim understood what was expected of him now that the chair directly across from Khan was free, and shifted over without complaint.

He tried to shake the feeling of being a mouse before a cat, and found that he couldn't. Khan pinned him with electric eyes and he froze.

"Now, Mr. Kirk," Khan purred lowly, leaning forward over the reset chessboard, "why don't we play a game?"

Jim didn't even need to move one of the pieces to know that he'd already lost.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I genuinely hope this chapter lived up to your guys' standards! I hope you enjoyed~!**

**The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it written. **

**Thanks for your patience! **

**-DH**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well, hello there! I hope you had a good day and are now coming to read my little story as a way to unwind and relax and be happy – then again, I know that some of you might just be here for the slash, and that's okay too. We'll have a great time, I promise. It'll be just like a slumber party! Except that I'm not giving any of you my address. Nothing personal, but I don't want to risk bodily harm.**

**Can I just comment on how much of a bitch this chapter was to write? No, honestly - nothing would go down right and I just I couldn't anymore. So this is the version I'll be sticking with until I read through it sometime in the future and cringe so hard that I **

**On with the show!**

**-DH**

* * *

"Captain Kirk, I've seen how you operate," Khan said, making his first move, "and you don't seem the type to sacrifice _any_ of your crew for the sake of strategy," his eyes lit up as Jim countered with a shift of his own and moved again.

"You don't seem the type to take prisoners, but I guess you can't judge a book by its cover, can you?" Jim shot back.

"Perhaps not," Khan said as he captured Jim's pawn. He smirked when Jim grimaced slightly and scrambled to regain the ground he'd lost. "It seems that playing games with your _Vulcan_ has trained you somewhat, at least," said the brunet when Jim brought forth yet another pawn, "But let me guess – you haven't won a match against him yet."

Jim elected to remain silent while he watched Khan's long, pale fingers slide a new piece forward.

Before Jim knew it, he'd fallen into a trap. He could plainly see that there were at least five different ways that Khan had him in check, but Khan didn't go for the victory immediately. In fact, he leaned against the back of his chair with a tiny smug smile, and Jim frantically looked over the entirety of the board to see if there was even a chance to get away.

_He's toying with me. The bastard is enjoying watching me panic. _Jim's hands fell uselessly to his lap and he took a deep breath. A quick glance up caught Khan reaching for his queen.

"Checkmate," Khan declared, knocking over Jim's king. He smiled at the blond's defeated frown, "Oh, don't look so down, Kirk. You actually lasted a lot longer than I thought you would. In fact, it makes me wonder what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

Jim didn't know exactly what Khan meant by that statement, but the way he said it made it sound vulgar and inappropriate and had Jim almost blushing. He fought down the urge, though, and stood from his seat.

"If that's all, I should be –" Jim stopped, wincing. The ending of his sentence _'getting back to my duties'_ died on his lips. Khan raised an eyebrow.

"'You should be –' what, Kirk? You should be getting to the bridge? You should be talking with your First Officer? Do you forget yourself so easily?"

The superhuman was amused, and Jim, understandably, was not.

_Fucking _bastard_. Ugh…Quick, Jim! Say something or you'll look like an idiot!_

"I should be getting back to my room," said the blond. Getting back to his room, indeed. There was _nothing_ for him to do in there, except sleep, and Jim was fairly certain that he wouldn't be able to, anyway. Not after the day's worth of sleep he'd already had.

"Why not try and formulate some sort of brilliant escape plan?" Khan suggested as he started packing up the chessboard and pieces, and not looking up to see Jim's dropped jaw.

It took a few minutes for what Khan had said to register in Jim's brain, but when it did, Jim couldn't make any sense of it.

"Wait- _what_?"

Khan continued on in a casual voice, "Go on, try and escape. A lovely scheme – the daring escape of James Kirk, the youngest captain in the history of Starfleet, from his captors: the evil and cruel biological mistakes that the world wished it could forget. You'd make every news channel in the galaxy. A glittering hero – something new for the reporters to drool over."

"I don't understand."

"I want you to try and escape," Khan remarked lightly, stowing the chessboard and pieces on a shelf just a few feet away.

"Yeah, I got that part. But why?" Jim asked.

"I want you to attempt to leave this vessel and return to your _Enterprise_ because I want you to know how _futile_ the effort is. Don't you understand, _Captain_? _There is no way off my ship_, unless I allow you to go. You will remain here until I say otherwise," Khan continued.

The way he spoke, though, was the most terrifying thing Jim had ever heard - there was no inflection, no emotion behind the words. Khan was speaking as if he were reading from a textbook; cold, hard fact fell from his lips like venom and Jim hated every second of it.

"I don't...I don't know how to respond to that." Jim breathed, staring at the superhuman.

Khan stared him down for a few more horrible moments, pinning the captain where he stood. The sometimes-blue-sometimes-green irises were quicksilver and molten.

"I do," Khan smirked, finally speaking like a person again.

"Of course you do."

"You're coming to the bridge with me, Kirk." The bridge? Why the bridge?

"What? Why?"

Suddenly, Khan was grabbing Jim's arm and dragging him through the doorway of the rec room. Jim remembered that he should be watching his surroundings because he was, in fact, a prisoner who wished desperately to escape, and knowing the pathways to and from the bridge was a good idea.

"Oh, don't worry, Kirk. Just a video call," Khan said, still walking forward with Jim's wrist in his – surprisingly gentle - grasp, at the same time removing his comm from his pocket to stare at it's screen. Jim took a minute to marvel at the fact that Khan wasn't watching where he was going at all - he navigated the twisting pathways of the Vengeance with ease, as if he'd been wandering through them his entire life.

"A video call?" Jim asked finally.

"Yes. Your friends have created an _army_ to come get you, and they'll be hailing us soon," Khan commented as they finally came around the last corner and the door to the bridge swooshed open. There was a visible change on Khan's face when he stepped inside. He seemed even more in his element than he usually was.

Which, of course, was completely stupid because Khan was always in his element and always searching for a way to use his situation to his advantage (and succeeding every time.)

"Captain on the bridge!"

"Thank you, Victoria. Any news about Kirk's armada?" Khan led Jim over to the captain's chair and sat down in it, not releasing the blond's wrist. He tapped away at the buttons on the chair's arm.

"ETA two minutes, Sir."

"Wonderful. Daelman, please keep a hold of our Starfleet captive while I speak with his friends," Khan released Jim's wrist so he could press buttons on his armrests with both hands.

Not a second after the pressure of Khan's fingers was gone, Jim's arms were pulled behind his back and he found himself being pulled firmly but gently over to the science station, behind an opaque screen at the right angle to both block the camera's view from the viewing screen but also to let him see the viewing screen.

He was pushed into a chair and a pair of handcuffs clasped around his wrists. Jim looked up to see Daelman's apologetic smile beaming down at him.

"Now, Kirk, if you'd be a dear and remain silent I would greatly appreciate it," Khan said distractedly.

"And why would I do that?" Jim asked in disbelief. If Khan thought he could get Jim to do anything he wanted, the augment had another thing coming.

"Kirk. You are aware of what I am capable of," Khan's voice dropped lower and he turned to look at Jim with a steely gaze. "I would make some sort of threat, but I believe your situation is _quite_ clear to you."

The message was definitely clear to Jim: _Don't believe for one moment that I can't destroy your entire world._

Jim clenched his jaw and leaned back against the chair instead of replying. Jim did know what Khan was capable of. And Jim knew that not only would Khan destroy everything Jim held dear - he would _enjoy_ doing it.

The bridge wasn't nearly as tense as Jim had thought it would be – the crew members joked around with each other and laughed and smiled and actually seemed _human _and were happy, despite the fact that they were possibly about to be under attack by several enemy ships. And Khan, he was smiling, too. The pilot (_Victoria_, Jim's mind supplied. Khan had called her Victoria) said something snarky to the augment, who playfully retaliated and chuckled.

It took Jim a moment, but he realized that the scene before him looked almost exactly like what his own bridge looked like. The colors were different, and the technology was more advanced, but the people, and the way they interacted with each other…it was so warm and happy that Jim almost expected Uhura and Spock to come striding through the doors, holding hands.

Then Jim remembered that Admiral Marcus had been vying to kill every member of Khan's crew – every member of the family that Jim was observing. It made him slightly sick to his stomach. How could anyone actually wish to end seventy-three lives? People who protected each other and stuck together no matter what was thrown at them, _murdered_ without a second thought.

"_You could have destroyed me and the rest of the crew so easily… I'd just like to say thank you. On behalf of everyone… The captain is grateful to you, too."_

At the time, Jim hadn't been paying much attention to what Daelman was saying (who could blame him, though? He was a captive on a huge battle ship, he had other things on his mind) but now he winced at the words.

Jim watched the goings-on of the bridge until someone called out, "Captain Singh, we have incoming."

Khan was immediately back in captain mode, all humor gone, "How many ships?"

"Seventy-eight, Captain. All fitted with weapons." Seventy-eight ships. Seventy-fucking-eight ships. What the hell was going to happen? Surely there was no way the Vengeance could get away unscathed.

"Estimated chance of survival should this come to blows?" Oh, this should be good.

"Ninety-eight percent." What? Where on earth did that figure come from? Were the capabilities of this ship really so impressive?

"Lovely," Khan replied. "Ready the warheads, arm phasers, and be prepared to warp at my command."

"Yes, Sir."

_Running away?_ Jim almost asked, but bit his tongue as he remembered his promise from earlier.

The final seconds ticked away and an armada snapped out of warp just a few hundred meters away.

"Captain, we're being hailed."

"Onscreen, if you would." Khan crossed his legs and leaned to the side of his chair, the picture of arrogance.

When the furious face of Jim's First Officer appeared on the screen, Jim felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. There were bags under Spock's eyes, his mouth was set in a grim line, and his usually immaculate hair was ruffled and uncombed.

Perhaps to an outsider, Spock appeared mildly agitated, but to Jim…to Jim, the Vulcan appeared as if his world were ending. It was obvious that he hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

"Hello, again, Mr. Spock. Long time, no see," Khan mocked from his chair, forming a steeple with his fingers just in front of his mouth, "How have you been doing lately? You've put together quite a large, rag-tag group of ships just for me – I should be flattered."

"Khan Noonien Singh, this is your final warning. Surrender now, or I will be required to utilize deadly force on your vessel," Spock ground out, brown eyes hard. He was glaring at the screen now; glaring at the picture of the criminal who had the gall to laugh at his threat.

"Now, now, Spock, you wouldn't want to do anything _rash_. We've been over this before, haven't we? It was yesterday, or perhaps the day before – you cannot touch my ship without killing your captain," Khan remarked. He his tiny smile was filled with mirth.

"How do I know he's still alive for you to hide behind?" Spock demanded, looking more than a little pale.

"No need to worry, Mr. Spock. He's alive, and quite well, really. Besides, why would I kill him? He provides me with a great deal of _entertainment_," Khan purred.

Outraged, Jim opened his mouth to protest. Daelman clapped his hand over it with a whispered 'sorry' in Jim's ear.

Jim watched in silence as Spock flushed green with rage and a snarl twisted his lips.

"Oh my, have I pressed a nerve? I wasn't aware that Vulcans had pressure points, and especially not centered around _humans_," Khan cocked his head to the side. "Anyway, run along, Mr. Spock, before I do something that will cause you and your little _team_ a great deal of pain."

Spock reigned his emotions back in and spoke coldly in reply.

"You are outnumbered," Spock said, "your only choice is to surrender."

"Oh, the weapons and warp capabilities of this ship beg to differ, Spock. I could annihilate your entire troupe in front of your eyes and you wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop me. Don't think for one moment that I won't, either," Khan declared. He turned to his pilot. "Victoria, give me manual control of the turrets."

"Switching turrets to manual, Sir. They are prepped and ready to go."

"What are you doing?" Spock asked, seeing Khan tap at his armrests, a tick of panic appearing on Spock's face.

"Just proving a point," Khan replied. A huge red crosshairs appeared on the viewing screen. The center hovered over the _Enterprise_ tauntingly for a moment before moving slightly to the left and targeting a smaller ship. Khan didn't even hesitate for a second once he had the ship in his sights.

He fired two bolts at it and watched with a little smile as the ship broke into pieces. When Spock didn't flinch at the destruction, Khan raised his eyebrow. "You see, Mr. Spock? Very easy. Very quick. Do you even care? No, you don't. The only thing you care about is your captain, who I currently have. You don't care about people, but James Tiberius Kirk is an _exception_. You love him, don't you?" _Love_ him? Spock couldn't love him. There was no way; Spock was going out with Uhura! Jim didn't even know Spock liked guys!

Fifty ships disappeared into warp space almost immediately following the firing, but the remaining twenty held their ground as bravely as they could.

"Captain Singh, twenty vessels are locking torpedoes."

"Violet, it's no issue, I assure you," Khan turned his attention back to Spock. "You even brought all of these people here – to their deaths – just to make sure you got him back. You'd do anything in the world, wouldn't you? Even sacrifice every last one of them?"

Sacrifice them? All of them? No, Spock wouldn't do a thing like that; it was absolutely impossible.

Jim felt his heart sinking into his stomach when Spock didn't deny it. The Vulcan stayed quiet. Would Spock really do that? Would Spock really cause that much death just to get to him?

"You've seen just a tidbit of what I can do, and I _know_ it terrified you. There will be no capture of me, or my vessel today, so why don't you run along? Off you pop, Mr. Spock. Give Starfleet my regards," Khan waved a hand dismissively at Spock's pissed off face.

"I will reclaim my captain, Khan. Mark my words," Spock spat heatedly. In the background, Uhura flinched. Jim felt like he was going to throw up.

"Oh, Spock. You still don't understand," Khan moved the crosshairs across the screen again, firing the turret once more. "That wonderful planet that your people are calling 'New Vulcan?' That big blue planet that your mother called 'home?' I know where to find entire systems that _hate_ Vulcans, and _hate_ humans. I know exactly how to speak to them so that they'll do what I want them to. They'll suffer massive damage. You'll be imprisoned, because it'll be _your_ fault that you didn't turn back," Khan's statement was punctuated by a rather monstrous ship warping out of the area "and you'll never see your precious captain again. Those are the circumstances, Spock. What will you do?"

There were more flashes of ships disappearing into the void of warp.

Jim noticed the space around his ship with a sinking pit of dread.

The once-formidable armada that it had arrived with was gone, like leaves before a hurricane.

The _Enterprise_ was alone.

~! #$%^&*()*&^%$# !~

"Spock, the rest of the fleet is gone," Uhura called from her station. _Gone? How can they be gone?_

"What do you mean, the rest of the fleet is _gone_?"

"Captain Spock, the Vengeance is locking phasers-" _Shit shit shit shit shit what do I do?_

"Every single ship that came here with us – turned back as soon as the firing started. We're alone, Spock. We should leave." Uhura said in shock. "Spock, we _need_ to leave. Please, Spock!" The Vulcan didn't answer her. "_Spock_!"

Spock bent forward, breathing raggedly with his hands clenched about the armrests of Jim's chair. _We have to leave Jim _again_? We have to leave him all alone in the hands of that mad man? Why? _Why_?_ He shook with fury, and Uhura stepped back a few paces. _Yes, stay far away from me before I take all my anger out on you instead of that- that-_

"Plot a course back to Earth," Spock muttered. _And don't question me or I will rip your head off-_

"Sir?" Sulu asked.

"_Plot a course back to Earth, now_!" The Vulcan shouted. Sulu flinched and scrambled to do as he asked. _Before I change my mind._

Khan smirked at him and spoke easily. "Goodbye, Mr. Spock. We won't be seeing each other again." _Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up I'll end your pathetic existence with my bare hands you coward-_

"Just shut up, and let my ship leave in peace," Spock snarled.

"Oh, it burns you to have come so close, doesn't it?" Khan mocked from his end.

_Why don't you come closer so I can murder you-_

"Ready to warp." _Control control control control control control maintain control –_

"Warp seven." _Just get me the hell away from here before I lose it –_

"Engaged." _I _will_ save you, Jim. I will. I _promise_._

The _Enterprise_ fled in silence.

)(*&^%$# ! #$%^&*()

Even though Daelman had taken his hand off of Jim's mouth, Jim stayed silent. He shook with sobs that he refused to let free and he could feel wetness flowing down his cheeks. He stared at the debris that littered the space just outside of the viewing screen with growing upset.

"Well, that was productive!" Khan exclaimed merrily, strange eyes alight. "Who knew it would be that much fun?"

The rest of the bridge crew high-fived and chattered amongst themselves and it was all making Jim just a little bit nauseas. He stood from his chair and held out his wrists for Daelman to unlock the cuffs. The blond augment did so quietly with another muttered 'I'm sorry about all this,' but Jim didn't hear him.

Jim turned away from the happy scene on the bridge and made his way back to his room, trying not to vomit.

He missed Khan's triumphant stare as he watched Jim leave.

* * *

**A/N: Well, it was definitely a long time coming, but you know I had it coming. At least, I hope you did. I think I replied to the people that reviewed that I'd be coming out with the next chapter soon enough. Life kind of got in the way. I hope you know what I mean.**

**Anyway, shoot me a review if you enjoyed, and I'll see you with the next chapter.**

**-DH**


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